Paul Dacre was awarded just over £1m in shares as part of a long-term investment plan.
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Paul Dacre took home £1.5m in 2016, maintaining his position as Britain’s best-paid newspaper editor.

The editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online received £1.44m in salary and fees and a further £59,000 in taxable benefits.

These benefits include a company car with a taxable value of £31,000, a £10,000 car allowance and a fuel benefit of £15,470.

The 68-year old, who is on a rolling 12-month contract, was also awarded the equivalent of just over £1m in shares as part of a long-term investment plan (LTIP) he was moved on to last year. However, this is not reflected as part of Dacre’s annual remuneration for 2016, as he will receive a payout when the first year of the three-year scheme vests next October.

Dacre has accrued the equivalent of more than £2m in shares in the two years he has been part of the plan, at the current share price of the newspaper’s parent company, Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT).

“Paul Dacre’s performance measures for awards … are to continue to invest in strong brands of digital consumer media – particularly Mail Online, and to ensure the financial sustainability of the Mail titles,” the company said.

Dacre has accrued a pension pot that pays out £688,000 a year. DMGT no longer makes any contributions towards his pension.

Before 2014, Dacre’s remuneration was about £2m, as he received an annual salary supplement of £500,000. From 2015, he moved to an annual LTIP award with a value equivalent to 70% of salary vesting after three years.

Overall, DMGT paid out £12.2m in pay, benefits and bonuses to its top executives in 2016, almost 40% more than the £8.8m paid out in 2015.

Viscount Rothermere, the chairman whose family controls DMGT, took home £1.94m, down from £2.06m in 2015.

Martin Morgan, who stood down as chief executive of DMGT in the summer, took home £2.9m, well up on 2015’s £1.94m thanks to a £1.4m payout relating to an LTIP scheme vesting.

Similarly, Stephen Daintith, the outgoing finance chief, took home £2.35m, up from £1.4m in 2015, thanks to a £1m-plus LTIP payout.